Word Order Facts
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Moro

Kordofanian family · Heiban branch · Africa

Moro is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

On Position of Case Affixes, WALS codes Moro as “Mixed morphological case strategies with none primary”, a value held by 9 of the 1,031 languages coded, Swahili and Mangarrayi among them.

On Polar Questions, WALS codes Moro as “Question particle and interrogative verb morphology”, a value held by 15 of the 955 languages coded, Pirahã and Ika among them.

The closest grammar profile to Moro in the atlas belongs to Chinantec (Lealao), an Oto-Manguean language: the two agree on 22 of the 40 features both have coded.

Moro: order of head and dependent in 8 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject precedes verb (SV). Of 1,496 languages coded, 1,192 put the subject before the verb and 194 after it.verbobject47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Object follows verb (VO). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.adpositionnoun phrasenoun phraseno dominant order49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: More than one adposition type with none dominant. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Noun-genitive (NGen). Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjective27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj). Of 1,367 languages coded, 373 put the adjective before the noun and 879 after it.noundemonstrative45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral follows noun (NNum). Of 1,154 languages coded, 479 put the numeral before the noun and 608 after it.nounrelative clause17%70%Order of Relative Clause and Noun: Relative clause follows noun (NRel). Of 824 languages coded, 141 put the relative clause before the noun and 579 after it.
The order Moro uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Moro with Chinantec (Lealao) or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Moro, rarest first.

Inside the Kordofanian family

Moro matches the most frequent Kordofanian value on 10 of the 13 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (77%).

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with Moro; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Moro for 40 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 33 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Moro shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
ToneSimple tone system132 of 527
Vowel Quality InventoriesLarge vowel inventory (7-14)184 of 564
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in plosives alone189 of 567
Consonant InventoriesAverage201 of 563
Consonant-Vowel RatioAverage234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems/p t k b d g/255 of 567
Syllable StructureModerately complex syllable structure274 of 486
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present503 of 567
Front Rounded VowelsNone525 of 562

Nouns and pronouns 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural prefix126 of 1,066
Definite ArticlesNeither definite nor indefinite article198 of 620
Indefinite ArticlesNeither indefinite nor definite198 of 534
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPossessive suffixes355 of 902

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect prefixes153 of 1,131
The ProhibitiveSpecial imperative + special negative146 of 496
The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular and second plural292 of 548
Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system201 of 375
The OptativeInflectional optative absent271 of 319

Word order 11

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at beginning of sentence129 of 884
Order of Genitive and NounNoun-genitive (NGen)468 of 1,249
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbVerb-object-oblique (VOX)210 of 500
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word follows noun (NDem)562 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral follows noun (NNum)608 of 1,154
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseInitial subordinator word398 of 659
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases not obligatorily initial615 of 902
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsPronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs437 of 711